Never Doubt
by Charlotte Flame
Summary: Ten years after the Battle of Hogwarts,Neville Longbottom makes a speech about the DA. A bittersweet one-shot.Please review!


**A/N: I really wanted to write this. The idea was bouncing around in my head for long time, so enjoy!**

Ten years after the fall of Voldemort, hundreds of witches and witches gathered on the grounds of Hogwarts. The Minister spoke; the Headmistress spoke; Harry Potter spoke and now Neville Longbottom spoke:

"Hogwarts during the last year of the Second War was not a place for children. It was a place children went and quickly became adults. It was a school that taught very quickly and very effectively the harshness of the outside world. No one who lived through it could ever forget it. Each lesson, each moment is burned into my memory. I wish some of them weren't, but I can't help but thank God that some of them are.

Some of you called it a teenager's gang; some of you called it idiocy; some of you called it hopeless- but some of you called it family. The DA was many things to the students who supported the Light during those Dark days. It was a beacon of hope; a light in the darkness; a sign that there was good in the world. Dumbledore said to us once that, "Happiness can be found in the darkest times, if only one remembers to turn on the light." The DA was that light, and all its members were responsible for its burning.

The DA was started my fifth year by the Golden Trio. At first it was just the Defense Association. Soon it changed to Dumbledore's Army. I don't know how he knew about it- but as Harry always says, Dumbledore knew everything that went on the castle. I guess I'm rambling a bit, but what I'm trying to say is this: We were just kids. Kids who couldn't shoot stunners, conjure Patronuses or do shield spells. We were just normal students. The DA didn't take the best students from each year- we took everyone. The DA took kids who were hopeless- me included. And somehow, we still managed.

An American muggle anthropologist named Margaret Meade once said, "Never doubt that a small, dedicated group of citizens can change the world- in fact, it is the only thing that ever has." That's what Dumbledore's Army was about. It was about rebelling when the stakes were highest; it was about bravery in the face of death; determination in the face of impossible odds.

I might have received an Order of Merlin; I might be the youngest Herbology Master Europe has ever had; I might have killed Voldemort's snake- but none of that matters. What matters most to me is that I led Dumbledore's Army during the darkest part of the Second War. What matters to me is that I was part of it. I was part of something like that. I helped create a generation of heroes. I still mourn those that died. I mourn the members that died too young- too soon. I'm proud that I knew them; proud that I lived with them, proud that I laughed with them, cried with them; proud that I learned with them, trained with them- proud that I fought with them. Give me a choice between a highly trained team of Aurors and members of Dumbledore's Army and I'll choose Dumbledore's Army any day."

Neville paused for a second and looked out over the crowd, "So yeah, perhaps we were just a teenagers' gang, but as a member once said, we were a teenagers' gang who took on Death Eaters and won. In the end, it is like Dumbledore said "It is important to fight, and fight again, and keep fighting, for only then can evil be kept at bay, though never quite eradicated." We never stopped fighting. I watched the Army struggle on, though I wouldn't have blamed anyone if they had given up. Through those dark months, I saw a courage that I didn't know we possessed. I would have given my life for any of them and they would have done the same .Of course, some of them did. During those months though, we talked about death a lot. We came to the conclusion that Dumbledore was right once again, death was just the next great adventure. It's hard for some of you to hear this. To know that your children fought a war while you hid. I don't blame you for hiding. We didn't have a choice though. We fought because circumstances made us soldiers. We fought because we needed to. We fought because it was the right thing to do. And I don't regret it."

Taking out his wand, Neville pointed it into the air and shouted, "_amici semper! amor vinci omni!_"*

The crowd gasped as a golden phoenix spiraled out of his wand and hovered in the sky before exploding into a cloud of gold dust. Mesmerized, everyone watched the dust swirl until it formed the words the students had said so often. Words they had yelled in unison, spat in defiance and whispered softly.

"_**Dumbledore's Army!"**_

**A/N: Latin translation: **_**Friends forever! Love conquers all! **_**I meant this as a sort of counterpoint to the spell used to summon the Dark Mark **_**(morsmordre**_**) which basically means death and destruction.**


End file.
